Yummy Iconic

Founder and Artistic Director Valerie Hex

The Grand Electric Sydney

Reviewed by Ron Lee, CSP

The Grand Electric Sydney has opened Yummy Iconic, a fast-paced mix of drag, burlesque, lip-syncing, dance, high-camp, circus, acrobatics, magic and comedy with audience participation.

Heading the six-person cast is the all-strutting MC Valerie Hex who sounds and looks uncannily like the my new favourite comedian, Reuben Kaye.

The circus skills of Jarred Dewey on the trapeze and the pole are sublime, and he performs in very high heels. His comprehensive circus training and dedication has made him one of the most respected performers in that genre. How can a person be so flexible?

Wielding a pair of knives, Jandruze invites a male member of the audience onto the smaller round stage for some simulations.

Velma Vouloir is your quintessential burlesque performer. Her flair, powerful stage presence and sumo-like flexibility are riveting. In her magic bit, she does “the duck pan”, but this time the duck is a duck skeleton.

The Grand Electric is a purpose-decorated theatrical venue. In the 1980s it was The Performance Space, one of the grottiest venues in Sydney. It went dark for a few years and then became the Giant Dwarf that staged student improv shows.

Production house Strut & Fret has made the venue unrecognisable, in a good way. It now looks like a French cabaret hall and it’s the perfect place for Yummy Iconic. The show is a lot of fun.